"We Didn't Start the Fire"

Joshua S. Duchan is associate professor of music and director of graduate studies in the Department of Music at Wayne State University.Ryan Raul Bañagale is associate professor of music and director of performing arts at Colorado College.

• Foreword by Billy JoelIntroduction: “The Stranger”: Locating Billy Joel in Popular Music StudiesRyan Raul Bañagale and Joshua S. DuchanPart I: “Somewhere Along the Line”: Considering TraditionChapter One: From Liverpool to Hicksville: Sgt. Pepper Meets The Nylon CurtainJoshua S. DuchanChapter Two: Movin’ Out on Thunder Road: Images of Ambition, Escape, and Authenticity in Billy Joel and Bruce SpringsteenJohn J. SheinbaumPart II: “This Is the Time”: Performance AnalysisChapter Three: Billy Joel, Piano Culture, and Rock’s Road Not TakenJonathan D. BellmanChapter Four: Form, Lyrics, and the “Short-Short-Long” Pattern in Billy Joel’s MusicDon TrautPart III: “You’re My Home”: Imagined LocationsChapter Five: “The Downeaster ‘Alexa’”: Billy Joel Signifies FolkMorgan JonesChapter Six: “Nothing Rhymes With Bethlehem”: City Branding Schemes and the Strategic Deployment of Billy Joel’s “Allentown”Sarah MessbauerPart IV: “Stop in Nevada”: Live PerformanceChapt

Duchan and Ban~agale have brought together 12 essays on musician Billy Joel (b. 1949), preceded by an introduction and a brief foreword by Joel. Though there have been many biographies of Joel, this is a valuable addition to the scholarship. . . The book concludes with Ban~agale and Duchan’s 2016 interview with Joel. Many of the essays include music transcriptions. A discography lists Joel’s dozen solo studio albums; bibliographical references stand in for a bibliography. This is a useful addition to the literature on Joel’s musical heritage. Recommended.